Monday, July 13, 2009

Tour de Champaign Crits

We just got back last night from a great weekend of racing in Champaign/Urbana, IL. Vince, Chris, Ryan and I made the trip for the Panther/RGF pb Felt Bicycles team and it paid off with some solid results both days. Saturday was a crit in downtown Champaign on a flat 4 corner course. Texas Roadhouse and a few other strong guys were there and ready to attack. It was pretty much non stop attacking until a big group of 15 or so riders got away. We had Ryan and Vince up there but Chris and I tried to jump on everyone's wheel who went to bridge in an attempt to get up there to help out but we didn't make it. Heading into the sprint I led out Chris around John Grant from Tx Roadhouse but it wasn't quite enough and john got the sprint with Chris and i taking 2nd and 3rd in the field. good enough for 13 and 14 spots. Unfortunatly Vince got crashed out in the last corner by john puffer but Ryan slipped by the crash and took 2nd place. We stayed with Mark Schwartzendruber and his super nice wife Cathy on Saturday night and they were great hosts! Mark was also the organizer of the weekends events and he did a great job! I highly recommend these races for next year. We also met Randall Coxworth who was staying with Mark as well. He was a pro back in the 90s and regaled us with some good stories. Sunday was another day and we were hoping to pick up the V. We were aggressive getting guys in every move and eventually Vince got in a break with jeff from ABD and JJ from TX road house. looked like a good move and they were gone. Next chris got in a break with a NUVO rider which almost got caught but Joey Iuliano bridged up and they went away from us again. Unfortunatly Ryan and I were so gassed from following other attacks that we missed the move that actually bridged. Vince ended up 3rd chris won his group for 4th and I got 14th again in the field sprint. A pretty good payday for us heading into superweek. Mad props to Joey for netting a big result for a new cat 2!